(Reuters) – Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville was set to stretch his world championship lead after ending Saturday’s penultimate leg of Greece’s Acropolis Rally with a 53.7 second advantage.
The Belgian started the day third but went top after teammates Ott Tanak and Dani Sordo suffered misfortune ahead of him on another punishing day.
Estonian Tanak had led by 21.8 seconds after Friday’s leg but lost four minutes and dropped to fourth after having to stop twice to change wheels after front and rear punctures.
Spaniard Sordo then took the lead but hit a rock on stage nine and the subsequent rear tyre change cost him some 50 seconds and sent Neuville clear at the top.
Neuville’s closest title rival, Toyota’s eight times world champion Sebastien Ogier, was in third place but one minute 20.9 seconds off the pace.
The Frenchman, who won three of Saturday’s six stages, had gone into the weekend 27 points behind Neuville in the standings with three rounds remaining after Greece.
Toyota team mate Elfyn Evans retired, after turbo problems on Friday, when he rolled his car on the 11th stage.
“From the beginning, our approach was to be careful with the car when it was needed and we somehow got through,” said Neuville.
“I tried to adapt my driving style a bit in the ruts and not put the car too sideways with the risk of hitting stones. That’s the only thing you can do.
“It’s a lottery out there and we don’t know what will happen. Tomorrow we have to see what the weather will be like and how hard we need to drive for the extra points. There are a lot of things we still have to manage.”
Sunday features three more stages on the rough and rocky gravel roads.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
